Page 77 of Nanny for the Firefighter

My heart feels like it’s going to split open and spill all its contents out onto the floor. Mason is just as good a man as his father, and I’m trembling thinking about him out there right now.

I look out the window and then at my phone. It hasn’t been long since we last spoke, and I know Mason is busy. But fucking hell, I want to hear his voice right now.

Mia starts babbling at the stuffed animals, who are clearly having some kind of conversation I don’t understand.

She walks over to me and grabs my finger, dragging me over to the circle of animals. We’ve played this game at home, and I know she wants me to say who each of the stuffies is and make the animal sound with her.

So I do.

Still, my fingers itch with the need to call Mason. But I can’t be the reason he’s distracted.

Mia is here right now, and she needs me. So, I’ll do my best to keep her calm and happy. It’s the absolute least I can do while Mason is out there putting his life on the line.

Smiling and making sounds like a monkey and lion and struggling through giraffes because I don’t think they make a sound, I play with Mia.

Inside, however, I’m panicking. I want to hear Mason’s voice. I want him to call soon, to give me good news and say he’s coming home soon.

The thought “home” strikes me, and I realize just how much that “home” is really just him.

It wasn’t too long ago that Mason and I agreed to give this a try, and while the thought of Jai still out there searching for me has never left my mind, I didn’t expect that we’d be contending with a fire, too.

It hasn’t been long since Mason came back into my life, but when I think about it, I’m not sure he ever left.

Hell, I’ve been crushing on him since I was in high school.

That aggravating discomfort—a blend of nausea and aching bones—swells, and all I can think as I play with his daughter is that the universe can’t do this to me.

I’ve finally gotten Mason back in my life, and beyond that, we’ve gotten this chance to be together.

It can’t be taken away. I…I won’t survive it.

It’s him. He’s it. Without Mason, all this running from Jai will finally catch up to me, and I just won’t be able to do it anymore.

The reality of what he means to me hits me like a punch to the chest, but I can’t even bring myself to think it.

Because if something happens…if something happens and he was the one, it will just hurt that much more.

“Growl!”

My attention snaps back to Mia as she holds up a teddy bear.

“Yup, growl goes the bear. Good job, Mia.”

She looks around the room and then toward the door.

“Dada?”

I have to fight to school my expression.

“He’ll be home soon, hun. He’s just working really hard right now.”

Mia seems happy enough with my response, and then it’s back to making animal sounds.

TWENTY-THREE

Mason

I’ve never considered which superpower I’d want in real life that much, not outside of funny one-off conversations while I’m half drunk.

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